Writing Across a Cracked World: Hindu Representation and the Logic of Narrative

by Vamsee Juluri

Academia functions today on the basis of its perception of certain dichotomies of power. It sees the West, Capitalism, Whiteness, Masculinity, Heteronormativity (and in South Asia, “Brahmanism”) and certain other formations as dominant, oppressive forces. In all of this, it sees Islam as the great Other of the dominant West, and readily sympathizes with it to the extent of even suppressing criticism of its violent interpreters. And when you, as a Hindu, have already been falsely smeared as essentially a White Supremacist with a false religion, and you use language fashioned by the Western critics of Islam for your arguments (such as “Islamofascism”) and so on, you will always be seen as an oppressive voice, rather than a subaltern one.